Sunday, May 2, 2010

There's No Denial – We Saw da Nile

I think that there will be many times in the rest of my life when I will stop what I'm doing and just think to myself, “I can't believe I saw the pyramids.” It's really quite beyond imagination.

It was a very long day. The ship docked in Alexandria, and Cairo is a three-hour bus ride from Alexandria. (And I will have plenty more to say about the bus drive later.) We were on the road shortly after 8 (after having our passports checked several times and watching the bus driver and our guide deal with the port security guards). It took awhile to get out of Alexandria, as it is a very large city. It was Saturday, and fairly early in the morning, but the (admittedly minuscule) part of the city we saw as we drove out of town looked busy, dirty, and old.

I guess we must have been driving on one of the main highways. It will be difficult for me to describe what we saw as we left Alexandria, heading toward Cairo. First of all, there were people along the side of the road – many, many people (mostly men, but some women). I'm not sure if they were waiting for a bus or if they were hitchhiking, or if that's how they spent their day. Some of the men were in regular western-style clothing, and some wore long robes – brown or white.

We saw many men and children driving little carts along the side of the road being pulled by donkeys. Please understand, these weren't some kind of quaint tourist attraction; these were actual people, clearly very poor, whose mode of travel was by donkey cart. Some actually sat astride the donkey.

We drove by small trucks, all badly beaten up, hauling a variety of farm vegetables and livestock. These trucks often also had people sitting in the back of the truck, alongside the vegetables or the livestock. They were sitting on the side of the truck, with their feet hanging over the edge. Remember, this is on a highway.

Some of the trucks hauled only people, men and women. The trucks were completely full of these farm workers. It was very hot, though not as hot as it would be in June or July I'm sure. Many of the women were completely covered with their robes and head coverings.
As we drove, I tried to imagine how these people who were clearly so, so poor, saw western tourists. Our wealth must be beyond their comprehension. At one point I leaned over to Bill and said, “This could be 500 years ago.”

As we rode the three hours to Cairo, our tour guide, Nevine, gave us history, sociology, and geography lessons. Nevine, a 30-something woman who spoke perfect English, told us she had never left Alexandria (except for these tours), and had been schooled by Franciscans. She clearly learned strict discipline from the nuns because the first words out of her mouth were, “For the next three hours, you are NOT allowed to sleep. I will be telling you about Egypt, and I will be asking questions to make sure you're listening.”

And she was serious. If someone would appear to be nodding off, she would walk back to them and wake them up. She really did ask us questions to make sure we were listening. I think she felt that most of us would never have the opportunity to be back to Egypt and we should make sure we learn about her country, about which she was obviously proud.

I won't go into the history and geography lesson, but it was interesting for me to hear that she believed that the Africans didn't particularly accept them as being African (though Egypt is on the African continent) and the Arabian countries didn't particularly accept them either. “We are just Egyptian,” she said. Nevine was earning an advanced degree in Egyptology, and she really knew her stuff. We couldn't have had a better guide, even if she was strict.

She wore a scarf that completely covered her head, and told us girls began covering their heads when they were around 11 years old. Women only show their faces and their hands. Otherwise they are covered with a color that won't draw any attention. She was unmarried, and told us that until one marries – whether male or female – one lives with one's parents. And after marriage, couples generally live close to the parents of the woman so that the maternal grandmother can help care for the children. Nevine told us most Egyptian women work outside the home.

Our first stop was the pyramids. When you first see them, they simply take your breath away. They are absolutely magnificent. And as you get closer, it is astounding to think they were built by human hands, and that the pyramids are simply burial tombs (though it seems inappropriate to have the words simply and pyramids in the same sentence).

All around the pyramids, there is commerce in action – camel rides, vendors, people wanting to take your picture for a fee. Nevine had advised us how to handle it all, and we really didn't have any problems. It's true you must say no over and over again, but I never felt in danger.

The camels are colorful and smelly. Not only are they being offered for tourists to ride, but security guards ride them as well. By the way, when I use the words “security guard,” you mustn't picture an overweight man with his name embroidered on a shirt, armed with only a billy club. We're talking AK-47s. No smiling. Eyes always watching. No making friendly chit-chat with tourists. Tourism is serious business in Egypt. They work very hard to keep it safe.

After spending a bit of time at the pyramids, we next visited the Sphinx. Everyone has seen pictures of this extraordinary Wonder of the Ancient World. In reality, it is beyond description. So I won't try to describe it. I am blessed to have seen it.

We stopped quickly at a store where they showed us how they make paper out of papyrus, and then drove over the Nile River into Cairo (the pyramids are actually in Giza). Wow. The Nile River. Me. This girl from Columbus, Nebraska, is driving over the Nile River.
Our lunch, disappointedly, was at the Hard Rock Cafe. They provided us with a buffet of typical Egyptian food that was really not very good. Personally, I would have preferred stopping at a local place where they make good typical Egyptian food, or eating a hamburger at Hard Rock.

The Hard Rock, however, sits right on the Nile, and we were able to do something wonderful following lunch. We were able to ride a felucca on the Nile River. A felucca is a sailboat that they have used since ancient times. It was very fun to watch our sailor manage the boat as we sailed on the Nile. I can't say that often enough. I sailed in a boat on the Nile River.

Following that experience, we stopped at the Cairo Egyptian Museum which, as you can imagine, holds a tremendous amount of Egyptian artifacts. For example, it has all of the items they found in King Tut's burial chamber. No photos allowed.

It was 6:30 by time we left the museum to head back to the ship. The sun set sometime around 7:45. It was a beautiful sunset.

Now I must tell you about our bus ride.

To begin with, I must apologize. I have spent entirely too much time telling you how bad the drivers are in Italy. Italian drivers go fast, and they don't consider stoplights mandatory. Nevertheless, there is a semblance of order to their highways. They drive on the right, pass on the left, and then get back in the right lane.

Now, I want you to imagine a three lane highway, but imagine that there are no dividing lines. Try to think about how people would drive if they didn't have lanes. Picture I-25 from Denver to Fort Collins with no lanes or order. You are beginning, perhaps, to get a picture of what driving in Egypt is like.

Now, for the most part, the highway have lane dividing lines. But they simply don't matter. Drivers drive with no order. They pass on any side. They disregard the lanes completely. At times, there might be four cars across. And as you are picturing this, remember those donkey carts on the side of the road, and the people milling beside the highway. By the way, those milling people are likely, at any point, to run across the highway, darting between cars. This is, remember, a highway, not a city street.

I mentioned that I watched the sun set. As the sky darkened, Bill pointed out that cars were not turning on their lights. As it grew darker and darker, a few turned on running lights, but many still drove with no lights at all. And when the sun had completely set and the sky was absolutely dark, the somber fact hit us – probably 20 to 30 percent of the cars were operating with no lights whatsoever.

Nothing had changed. Cars were still passing each other any which way. There were still donkey carts on the side of the road. People were standing beside the highway and many were still darting across the now-dark road between cars. It was one of the most amazing things we have ever seen. Perhaps it was our own fault because we chose to sit in the very front of the bus where we had a totally unobstructed view of the chaos. Bill, who rarely gets unnerved about travel-related oddities, was completely shocked, and said so. It occurred to us that, even in the prime of our lives, we would have been unable to drive in Egypt.

My day in Cairo is one I will never forget.

3 comments:

Serenity said...

You're living my dream. Thanks for sharing!

Jen said...

Disneyland with four grandchildren is going to seem peaceful!

Erik Borman said...

This is hysterical. I'm envisioning a crazy egyptian version of the game Frogger!!